Am I entitled to bank holidays?

Q. I am 30 years old and I have started working full time for a new employer. My employer has said I'm not entitled to bank holidays is that correct, and he is only giving me 10 days leave can he do that?
You may not automatically be entitled to take off bank holidaysYou may not automatically be entitled to take off bank holidays
You may not automatically be entitled to take off bank holidays

A. You are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks’ holiday a year if you work full time, or a pro-rata amount if you work part time. This is called statutory holiday.

To work out how many days holiday you can take a year, you need to multiply 5.6 by the number of days you work in a week. The maximum amount of statutory paid holiday you can be entitled to is 28 days. This applies even if you work more than five days a week.

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Your contract of employment may give you the right to take more than the statutory amount of paid holiday. However, it cannot give you less. You do not have an automatic right to take bank or public holidays off work, with or without pay. This will depends on your employment contract.

Pat Hutchinson MBE.Pat Hutchinson MBE.
Pat Hutchinson MBE.

If your employer refuses to give you your full holiday entitlement you should try to sort it out informally with them first. If this doesn’t work, you may need to raise a grievance. If you have tried to raise the issue with your employer and are still not happy with the outcome, you can ask an employment tribunal to enforce your right to take holiday. If you make a claim to a tribunal, you must do this within three months of your employer’s refusal to let you take holiday.

You should seek advice from an experienced adviser, for example, a Citizens Advice, as there is a time limit for making claims

Get free, confidential and independent advice from your nearest Citizens Advice at www.citizensadvice.co.uk or for further information go to www.citizensadvice.org.uk/nireland

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